Raslila

Place and community

Raslila is a famous dance form in India. Though this dance form is performed almost everywhere in India, its origins like in the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh. Devotees of Lord Krishna and Radha take part in this dance.

Description

Raslila is a famous art form originating in Braj in Uttar Pradesh in north India. This folk art has elements of classical music, dace and drama.

Raslila is associated with Radha and Krishna and their divine love. It is a joyous circular dance of Sri Krishna and his playmates

Today we have villagers in India taking part in Raslila and depicting various stories of Radha and Krishna through dance, music and drama.

It also portrays Krishna’s association with the milkmaids or gopis of the village. It shows how Krishna casts a spell on the gopis who wanted him to be their dance partner.

Raslila has a basic script which has to be followed, but it has enough scope for improvisation as well. Though the emphasis of Raslila is on ‘darshan’ or the visual appeal, it is important to capture the ‘bhava’ or the sentiment. This is done through music, dance and drama enacted by the actors.

The various ‘raasas’ or dramatic flavors like friendship, conjugal love, parental love, amazement, compassion, humour, chivalry, fury, fear and dread are expressed through this traditional folk form.

The range of the villagers who perform raslila is quite vast. They perform legends that portray different stages of Krishna’s youth. In some areas of Uttar Pradesh raslila is performed only by Brahmin boys in the age group of 13 to 14 years.

Even now, many roles of sakhis or mother of Radha and Krishna are performed by men disguised as women. Raslila is also performed by mobile troupes moving from village to village. A traditional raslila usually lasts for three and a half hours.